Jillian Michaels Opens up About Overcoming Her Teenage Struggles With Weight

Published at 4:59 PM PDT on May 7, 2010 | Updated at 5:15 PM PDT on May 7, 2010

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arrives at the 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 17, 2010 in Beverly Hills, California.

Jillian Michaels of "Biggest Loser" fame will be changing people's lives again come June when her new show, "Losing It With Jillian Michaels," debuts on NBC.

The "Biggest Loser's" tough trainer will bring her motivational moxie to her new series, which premieres June 1. Today, however, Access Hollywood uncovers a totally different side of Jillian.

Access' Maria Menounos was invited to Jillian's home, where the star revealed her own personal struggle with weight.

"I know people would find it hard to believe that you have had weight struggles in your life," Maria said.

"It's something that I work on and manage and try to kind of wrestle with every single day," Jillian said.

Now 36 years old, Jillian opened up to Maria while they chatted at her Hollywood Hills home, telling Maria that the years of being overweight are far behind. The fight to stay fit and healthy, however, is still a daily battle.

"I find it very much like alcoholism in that you can be sober, but you always carry the issues," Jillian said. "If I'm feeling depressed and I want to comfort myself with food, I know that I get to have 300 calories of brownies instead of 1000 calories of brownies."

Jillian remembers her high school diet being filled with oversized portions of greasy and fattening foods and she would hit fast food restaurants so much, she still remembers one of her favorite orders.

"I remember my Taco Bell order," Jillian said. "Three bean and cheese burritos, no onions, extra cheese, a taco supreme, cinnamon twists and then eventually I came to Diet Coke."

"How much did you weigh at your biggest, and what size were you?" Maria asked.

"I was 175 lbs at about 5' tall," Jillian revealed. "So I'm like 115 now at 5'3". I was heavy.

"How did your weight struggle help you connect with the people that you train?" Maria asked.

"Because I don't believe in sympathy and I think sympathy is almost like a form of agreement," Jillian said. "So if somebody is 400 lbs and you're like, 'Awww, gosh, poor you,' it's almost to me, like saying, 'Oh, you're just so weak and pathetic, you know, poor thing. You're 400 lbs.' That [type of talk] makes me sick.

"There comes a time when we take responsibility for ourselves in order to take responsibility for the future," Jillian added.